Driving mechanism for ships&#39; instruments and other precision instruments



March 24, 1925.

G. WALKER DRIVING MECHANISM .FOR SHIPS INSTRUMENTS AND OTHER PRECISION INSTRUMENTS F il e d Jan. 25, 1925 MOIQ Patented Mar. 24, 1925. v

I UNITED STATES GEORGE WALKER, OF NEWTON CENTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR SHIPS INSTRUMENTS AND OTHER PRECISION INSTRU MENTS. 7

Application filed January 25, 1923. Serial No. 614,834.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, GEORGE WALKER, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Newton Center, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Driving Mechanism for Ships Instruments and Other Precision Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to driving mechanism for precision instruments of the type in which one shaft is to be connected to and disconnected from another shaft during alternate intervals of time. The driven shaft may actuate a counter or indicator which may be reset during the interval of rest.

The invention is particularly adapted for use in ships instruments of the type disclosed in my copending applications Ser. No. 27 3,744 filed January 19, 1919; Ser. No. 319,392 filed August 23, 1919, and Sci-(No. 614,838, filed on even date herewith, wherein indicators are recurrently and alternately advanced from an initial position variable distances depending upon the speed of the shaft the indicators being reset to initial position between successive advances.

Y Objects of the invention are to prevent irregularities in the indication made by the indicator due to a sudden throw of the latter at themoment of making or breaking the driving connection thereby to produce an even and steady operation of the indicator, and in general to improve devices of the class described and to make'them more accurate and uniform in operation.

. For the purpose of illustration one concrete embodiment of the invention is shown inthe accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the indicating portion of the device; and

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the mechanism behind the dials shown in Fig. 1 for actuating the indicators.

The embodiment of the invention shown for the purpose of illustration comprises a pair of indicators 3 and 3 arranged to be alternately advanced around dials 4 and 4: by shafts 5 and 5 arranged, through the medium of driven gear wheels 6 and 6 fast on shafts 5 and 5 respectively and intermediate trains of gears 7 and 7, to have a driving connection with a driving wheel 8 on shaft 9. Shaft 9 is operated by connections (not shown) at the same speed as some rotating part such as a propeller shaft or at a speed proportional thereto if one propeller is used, or at the average speed or a speed proportional thereto if aplurality of propellers are used.

Intermediate gears 7 and arerotatably mounted upon arms 10 and 10 pivoted'for swinging movement about the axis of the driven wheels 6 and 6 respectively, the innermost of each train of gears being in mesh with the driven wheels respectively. Arms 10 and 10 are urged toward driving gear 8 by springs 11 and 11 fast at oneend to extensions 12 and 12 on arms 10 and 10" respectively, and at the other to stationary brackets 13 and 13 fast upon the back plate or support of the device." Adjusting means in the form of screws 14L and 14 may be provided to limit the inward movement of arms. 10 and 10 to a position'in which theoutermost of the trains of gears 7 and 7' properly mesh with driving wheel 8 to prevent jamming.

The mechanism for controlling the operation of indicating shafts 5 and 5 preferably comprises bars 15 and 15 adapted to be reciprocated manually or by suitable mechanism (not shown) such as that disclosed in my aforesaid applications. The reciprocat-' ing of the bars 15 and 15 serves to step aroundshafts 16 and 16 through ratchet wheels 17 and 17 on said shafts and pawls 18 and 18 onsaid bars. Fast on shafts 1 6 and 16 are pinions 19 and 19 having elongate teeth. These teeth cooperate with bars or arms 20 and 21 fast to extensions 12 and 12 of arms 10 and 10 alternately to forcearms 10 and 10 outwardly against the tension of springs 11 and 11 to break the driving connection between wheel 8 and driven wheels '6 and 6 Pinions 19 and 19 also control levers 22 and 22 which in turn con trol clutch mechanism (disclosed in Ser. No. 614,835, filed on even date herewith) for normally preventing reverse movement of wheels 6 and 6 to resetting position. Wheels 6 and 6 are further provided with escapement and stop mechanism 23 and 23 of the type disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 614,836 filed on even date herewith.

The operation of the device is as follows: By the actuation of bars 15 and 15 at properly timed intervals pinions 19 and 19' are stepped around and control the operation of shafts 5'and 5 in substantially the following order: Indicators 3 and 3are alternately operated from shaft 9 during succeeding minutes. As shown in Fig. 1, indicator 3 is moving forward or clockwise. Indicator 3 is stopped at the indication. registered dur ing the preceding minute. Just before the minute is up during which indicator 3 is recording, indicator 3"-will be reset. At the end of the minute indicator will be stopped and indicator 3 will 'b'e started to cou'nt'the propeller revolutions for the neXt minute.

The-position 'o'fthe parts shown in Fig. 2 corresponds with those shown in Fig. 1; that is, arm 20 has slipped off one of the teeth of the'pinion 19 due to a one-tooth rotation ofsha'ft 16 actuated by bar 15 so that arm 10 has swung inwardly to 'mes houtermost gear of train 7 with gear wheel 8, thus completing the driving connection from gear 8 todrivengear 6. Arm 10 was simultaneously moved outwardly b'yarm 21 riding upon one of the teeth 'ofgear 19 so that the driving connection between wheel S-and wheel 6 is broken. Upon the next reciprocation of bar 15 arm 10 will still be retained in the position shown but lever 22. will be actuated to permit shaft 5 to be re-' set, and on the-next reciprocation of bar 15, which occurs simultaneously with the reciprocation of bar 15, arm 21' will fall between adjacent teeth of pinion 19 and Ya driving connection will be established between driving wheel 8 and shaft 5, and the reciprocation 'of bar 15 will disconnect the driving connection between wheel 8 and shaft5.

Thearrangement of intermediate gears here shown between the driving and driven shafts has "numerous advantages. Inthe first place the'outermost gears of gear trains 7 and 7 are brought radially into mesh withdriving wheel-8 resulting "in aquick and accurate meshing of the wheels with little orno jiggle of the'driven gears. Furthermore the pivoting of arms 10 and 10 upon which 'thetrains' of gears are'mounted, abouttheaxis'of the driven gears 6 and 6 respectively, results in two advantages: (1) hen the'arms are swung inwardly to mesh the gears'theinnermost of each'train rolls upon driven gears G and 6 in adirection to'reverse its movement so' that the indicators 3 and3 are heldin stopped position; (2') at the same time, due to the inability of gears 6 and 6to turn, trains ofgears 7 and '7 are caused to rotate in the directions respectivelyin which-they turn in advancing the indicator, hence the outermost gears of trains 7 and 7 are rotating with driving wheel 8 rather than against it when they come into mesh, so that indicators 8 and 3' will start off evenly andsmoothly upon their recording movement. The arrangement herein disclosed provides exceptionally accurate and uniform operation of the indicators with a minimum of wear 'upon the parts. i

In the forms shown three small gears have been employed to form trains 7 and 7 respectively, but it is obvious thatother numbers of such gears may be used. However, the use of a number of small gears permits a much more compactarrangement of parts struments comprising a pair of driven wheels adapted to be 1 alternately rotated by a driving wheel during-succeeding intervals of time, means for making and breaking the driving connection between the wheels comprising members having a driving connection with 1 the' driven wheels and movable substantially radially into'and out of contact with the driving'wheel.

'2. Driving mechanism for precision instruments comprising a pair of *driven wheel's adapted to be alternately rotated by a driving wheel during succeeding intervals of time, means form-aking and breaking the driving connection between the wheels comprising members having a driving connection with the driven wheels aud=mounted for swinging movementabout the axis of said driven wheel's, said members being movable into and out "of wheel.

3. Driving me'Ch'anism for precision in struments comprising a pair of driven ears adapted to he I alternately rotated g by a IlI lV- ing gear during succeeding intervals of time, means :for ma-king and breaking the driving connection betweenthe driving gear and each ofthe'driven gears comprising a member pivoted for swinging movement about the axis of oneof the .gearsand carrying a gear arranged 'to be moved radially into and out of mesh with the other gear, and means for simultaneously swinging" said members to disconnect the driving gear from one driven gear and to connect the driving gear with the'otherdriven gear.

4. Driving mechanism for precision 'instruments comprising a pair of shafts operating indicators adapted to be alternately rotated by driving shafts, a'gear wheelon each of said shafts, and means for making and breaking the connection between the gear wheels on the several shafts comprising an arm mounted for'swinging movement on each of said indicator shafts, a train of gears in mesh with ea'ch'other on each arm, the first of said gears meshing with the contact with the driving wheel on the shaft and the outer of said gears being arranged to mesh substantially radially with the wheel on the driving shaft, and means for simultaneously moving said arms to make one of said connections and to break the other connection.

5. Driving mechanism for precision in struments comprising a pair of shafts op- ,erating indicators adapted to be alternately ing an arm mounted for swinging movement on each of said indicator shafts, a train of gears in mesh with each other on each arm, the first of said gears meshing with the wheel on the shaft and the outer of said gears being arranged to mesh substantially radially with the wheel on the driving shaft, and means for moving each of said arms to make and break the driving connection.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 27th day of December, 1922.

GEORGE WALKER. 

